AN ACT to create the offense of sexual battery.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 14‑27.1 reads as rewritten:
"§ 14‑27.1.  Definitions.
As used in this Article, unless the context requires otherwise:
…
(5)	'Sexual contact' means (i) touching the sexual organ, anus, breast, groin, or buttocks of any person,  or (ii) a person touching another person with their own sexual organ, anus, breast, groin, or buttocks. 
(6)	'Touching' as used in subdivision (5) of this section, means physical contact with another person, whether accomplished directly, through the clothing of the person committing the offense, or through the clothing of the victim."
SECTION 2.  Article 7 of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 14-27.5A.  Sexual battery.
(a)	A person is guilty of sexual battery if the person, for the purpose of sexual arousal, sexual gratification, or sexual abuse, engages in sexual contact with another person:
(1)	By force and against the will of the other person; or
(2)	Who is mentally disabled, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless, and the person performing the act knows or should reasonably know that the other person is mentally disabled, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless.
(b)	Any person who commits the offense defined in this section is guilty of a Class A1 misdemeanor."

SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2003, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 16th day of June, 2003.

	s/	 Beverly E. Perdue
	 President of the Senate

	s/	 Richard T. Morgan
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	s/	 Michael F. Easley
	 Governor

Approved 12:40 p.m. this 26th day of June, 2003